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Im American of Guyanese descent. I came up and identify with a lot of black culture both in the Caribbean and America.
I do have background of Indian,East Asian,and North African .I recommend people take the ancestry and DNA tests.
I wonder that in USA and Canada these questions about background are so important.
In Brazil nobody will ask you about your ancestry. Sometimes just as a curiosity, due to the surname. For example, I had a mate in the college whose parents were from Guatemala. We wonder about this because it's rare to see guatemalans in Brazil, but for us she is simply brazilian, since she was born here, she lives here, and speaks portuguese as mother language.
Ancestry questions are pretty common in the US. Especially if you are a visible minority or mixed or "unidentifiable" to any ethnic group (again usually mixed people in this scenario also). It's these questions that produce the 25% Dominican, 5% Native American, 10% Irish, etc.
I'm a white person and I almost never get this question. When I do I'll say that I'm Swedish, Italian, and Scottish (I do have ties to other groups in Europe but they are so small in my heritage I don't bring them up, like Dutch). I noticed though Americans are more likely to bring up their ancestral background without being asked about it. But if your family (like mine) has been in the US for more than 200 years does it really matter? I do have some family that came in the early 1900s and some great-grandparents still in Sweden but for the most part they have been here since before the Civil War. I should just start saying American if I get asked again.
Re ones background and if it matters or it. For me as an adult not so much as I like to explore and learn about other cultures and ideas and I don't have a personality that drives me to want to fix it. As a kid and teenager it was a bit more stressful at times because some people had the tendency to want to exclude you if you did not fit their criteria. I really had to have a thick skin regarding this because if trying to participate in cultural events from the Caribbean those girls where wicked and I needed to be very savvy to earn my respect in the group. When you have got a group of 99% people that look similar and you are the odd one out you really need to prove yourself if you want your voice heard and to be respected.
If we had cultural events I made sure to go above and beyond to surpass everyone in my efforts. I literally sat through planning meetings where just to be wicked the chair of the meeting would say things like and all the black people will bring in food to share that represents Caribbean culture while she was glaring at me the only white person in the room. I choose not to argue, but to knock my efforts out of the park. I brought in 90% of the food for the event and ensured authentic stuff was there. While she brought 1/2 dozen store store bought frozen beef patties and was not even Jamaican. After the white girl saved the day she learn to get off my back and to treat me with more respect.
Canadian Guatemalan/ central american? The funny thing about that is I find it really hard to identify with other Guatemmalans or central americans I meet here. Many are religious, I am not. Our views on politics are usually very different. I don't like soccer, I don't like talking about work and how much I make. I don't go to church, so all this pretty much leaves me with nothing to talk about with 97% of the Guatemalans or central americans I meet here.
The only times when people classfy me by my ethnic subgroup is once or twice when I travel back to my family's home town where people assosciate different ethnic names with different Catholic parishes. Or, when I visited Chicago and a local identified my name as being Polish as opposed to Czech or Ukrainian.
I get the feeling that identity among the various slavic groups is strong in Chicago. If I lived there, I might have a stronger identity with my sub group. But.... I dont live there so I identify as just another white guy.
Canadian Guatemalan/ central american? The funny thing about that is I find it really hard to identify with other Guatemmalans or central americans I meet here. Many are religious, I am not. Our views on politics are usually very different. I don't like soccer, I don't like talking about work and how much I make. I don't go to church, so all this pretty much leaves me with nothing to talk about with 97% of the Guatemalans or central americans I meet here.
Re-religion and central Americans.. I actually have found that most of the Central Americans I have know in Canada (except of one crazy Costa Rican who I adore ) are really religious and even more so if they are not Catholic. I went to public school for 1 year and I was shocked about how much more religious some of these kids where ex they actually like going to church and were really in to it. What's up with that?
You don't like soccer... ! I thought that was manditory! Do you at least like baseball?
Not talking about work could be generational. If you are a generation x and gew up in Canada then that generation tends not to value talking about work and values talking about you own life more. I tend not to like to talk about work in a social setting. I stop caring about work once I leave for the day.
Re-religion and central Americans.. I actually have found that most of the Central Americans I have know in Canada (except of one crazy Costa Rican who I adore ) are really religious and even more so if they are not Catholic. I went to public school for 1 year and I was shocked about how much more religious some of these kids where ex they actually like going to church and were really in to it. What's up with that?
Yeah, many central Americans here in Canada are evangelical, and very conservative. I respect every ones freedom to follow any religion, but I stay far away from it myself. I am pretty much an atheist.
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You don't like soccer... ! I thought that was manditory! Do you at least like baseball?
I shouldn't have said I don't like soccer, I respect at all sports. I just don't follow soccer and have nothing to say about it really. I love baseball, but that has more to do with playing it in Halifax when I was younger. Waaaaaay back around the last time the bluejays won the world series. I still watch it regularly.
Quote:
Not talking about work could be generational. If you are a generation x and gew up in Canada then that generation tends not to value talking about work and values talking about you own life more. I tend not to like to talk about work in a social setting. I stop caring about work once I leave for the day
Yeah, that is pretty much how I feel about it.
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) are really religious and even more so if they are not Catholic. I went to public school for 1 year and I was shocked about how much more religious some of these kids where ex they actually like going to church and were really in to it. What's up with that?
! I thought that was manditory! Do you at least like baseball?
